title: Identification, cloning and characterization of an extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) from Chinese shrimp, Fenneropenaeus chinensis.
abstract: Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) is a serine/threonine-specific protein kinase, which participates in signaling transduction pathways that control intracellular events, including resumption of meiosis, embryogenesis, cell differentiation, cell proliferation, cell death and response to radiation. Some virus species evolved the ability to hijack the host cell ERK signaling transduction pathway for viral replications and gene expressions. To obtain a better understanding of ERK, we cloned a cDNA encoding ERK from the muscle of Fenneropenaeus chinensis (FcERK). The FcERK contained a 1098 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a protein of 365 amino acid residues with a conserved phosphorylation motif TEY in the kinase activation loop. Pair-wise and multiple sequence alignment revealed that ERK is highly conserved across taxa. The FcERK gene expressions in the hepatopancreas and gill were noticeably higher than the expression observed in the muscle. A challenge test was performed to reveal the responses of FcERK in different tissues to white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection. Post WSSV challenge, the FcERK expression in the gill significantly increased during the early stage of the viral infection, the FcERK expression in the muscle increased later than that in the gill, and the FcERK expression in the hepatopancreas significantly decreased. The FcERK gene expression profile accorded with the results that the virus primarily infects tissues originating from the ectoderm, with less infection of the tissues originating from the mesoderm, and hardly any infection in the tissues originating from the entoderm. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in the FcERK gene, involving C/T transition. The SNP genotypes of two groups of shrimps, respectively comprising 96 WSSV-resistant shrimps and 96 WSSV-susceptible shrimps were obtained using a high-resolution melting (HRM) method. In the two groups, the MAFs of both sites were greater than 0.05, and no site departed significantly (P < 0.05) from HWE. The genotype distributions of both mutation sites between the two groups were not significantly different. These results lead to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the host-virus interaction and provide useful information for disease control.
authors.affiliation: College of Marine Life Science, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China; Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Marine Fisheries Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, 106 Nanjing Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Xupeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xianhong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luan
authors.forename: Baoxiang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jinfei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D060829:Arthropod Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005880:Gills / Q000821:virology; D043143:Hepatopancreas / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D054792:Muscle, Striated / Q000821:virology; D009928:Organ Specificity; D033561:Penaeidae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D046848:White spot syndrome virus 1 / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D060829:Arthropod Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases
keywords: Expression; Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK); Fenneropenaeus chinensis; Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP); White spot syndrome virus (WSSV)